Ashurst advised funds managed by DPE Deutsche Private Equity Management III GmbH (DPE) on the financing of the acquisition of shares in Austrian VTU Anlagenplanung & Lieferung GmbH and German VTU Engineering Deutschland GmbH. The companies provide plant engineering services to companies in the pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, chemical, metallurgy and oil and gas industries. The parties agreed not to disclose the details of the transaction.

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Raiffeisenbank Oberösterreich Aktiengesellschaft and UniCredit Bank Austria AG provided the financing.

The Ashurst team was led by partner Dr Bernd Egbers and senior associate Isabell Pöller, assisted by associate Franziska Sauer and paralegal Ena Selimbegovic (all finance, Munich). Partner Dr Martin Bünning and associate Carina Park advised on tax aspects (both Frankfurt).

Ashurst advises DPE regularly, so far mainly in the context of acquisition financing, for example in 2016 on the financing of the acquisition of electroplating and injection molding specialist Fischer surface technologies. In October 2017, Ashurst acted for the private equity firm in relation to the acquisition of Euro-Druckservice GmbH for the first time on the corporate side.

DPE is an independent German investment company based in Munich that invests in SMEs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Founded in 2007, DPE has since successfully launched three funds and thus manages total assets of €1.2 billion.